Carbon Balanced

Offset Carbon Emissions with World Land Trust

World Land Trust’s Carbon Balanced programme enables individuals and organisations to offset their residual greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) through the protection and restoration of carbon-rich wildlife habitats in the tropics.

What is Carbon Balanced offsetting?

Carbon offsetting is a process whereby an individual or company takes action to prevent the release of emissions elsewhere, or secures the absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide as part of a wider approach to measure, reduce and then offset emissions through impactful conservation projects.

Carbon Balanced offsetting focuses on taking a balanced approach to your emissions by following a three step process to measure and reduce, before offsetting residual emissions.

Why offset residual emissions?

Human emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide from households, cars, flights and habitat destruction are leading to global temperature rise and anthropogenic climate change. This has a severe impact on human systems; including increased flooding, landslides, threats to food and water security, and health.

Ecosystems are adversely affected through changes in species range and abundance, with climate change negatively impacting the threats that already occur and species’ adaptability to said threats.

Each and every one of us must take responsibility for our own impact on the climate. By reducing carbon dioxide released in to the atmosphere, Carbon Balancing is addressing the effect of increased GHG emissions on the climate whilst contributing to wildlife conservation.

How does Carbon Balanced contribute to conservation?

Terrestrial habitats, such as forests, grasslands and wet peatlands, contain large volumes of carbon in their biomass and soils. However, these habitats are being destroyed or degraded at an unprecedented rate, releasing stored carbon into the atmosphere and contributing to between 10 and 20 per cent of global GHG emissions.

The Carbon Balanced programme offsets emissions by protecting threatened habitats that would otherwise have been lost, avoiding the release of stored carbon. This also enables the regeneration of degraded habitats, which gradually re-absorb atmospheric CO2. In a warmer climate it is predicted that tropical ecosystems will be able to store less carbon than they do now, so urgent action is required.

All carbon balanced projects are carefully designed according to robust standards that ensure offsets are delivered at a portfolio of sites where they are measurable, verifiable and properly monitored and can achieve high quality REDD+ outcomes.

How World Land Trust can help you

WLT assists individuals and organisations in quantifying their carbon footprint and, where appropriate, offsetting their unavoidable emissions. We ask that organisations and individuals seeking to offset their emissions through the Carbon Balanced programme follow three steps:

Measure: WLT can assist individuals and organisations in quantifying their current emissions through a free emissions audit.

Reduce: We urge people to take steps to reduce their carbon footprint and can offer information on how to reduce your emissions.

Offset: Whilst every effort must be made to reduce emissions at source, some emissions may be unavoidable, at least in the short-term. Through Carbon Balanced habitat conservation and restoration projects, the WLT can help you offset these unavoidable emissions.